AURORA, Colo. — Lady Justice Brewing had just moved into their new taproom on Colfax when COVID-19 hit Colorado and stay-at-home orders began. But even a global pandemic did not stop their mission: To brew beer and make the world a better place through philanthropy.
“We are an all female owned and operated brewery,” co-founder Betsy Lay told Denver7.
Lay and her two other co-founders developed the concept for Lady Justice when they were struggling to fundraise for a different nonprofit. The idea that was born was to brew and sell beer, and donate profits to area nonprofits.
“It is as simple as, 'Here’s the money we made, here’s what we have left, let’s give it away,'” she described.
Since 2016, Lady Justice has donated nearly $14,000 to more than 40 Colorado nonprofits. The latest recipient was Dream Culture.
“It is designed to create those healthy alternatives,” Dream Culture President Ty McKay said.
The organization works with vulnerable communities to expose kids and families to things they might not otherwise take part in.
“We have summer camps, we have youth entrepreneurship programming, legacy development programming, we have small business development,” McKay said, adding in other programs that teach financial literacy through buying and owning a car.
At their peak, Dream Culture serves more than a thousand kids a week. But the COVID-19 pandemic hit the nonprofit hard.
“In the sense that now we have a lot more people that are in need,” McKay said.
Most of their programs had to go virtual, others had to be canceled altogether, with added challenges that included limited resources.
So when the call from a philanthropic local brewery came?
“I woke up one morning and said, 'Oh my!'” McKay said.
On Wednesday, Betsy Lay handed Dream Culture a check for $2,000, all raised during the month of June.
“To hear the kids at Dream Culture are still going to be able to have significant experiences in their lives that is going to help them later on, it’s awesome to be a part of that,” Lay said.
“That kind of community support is what has carried us through this whole ordeal,” McKay said.
Lady Justice has now reopened their taproom, with updated hours. They plan on continuing to donate their profits to nonprofits that promote diversity. More info can be found at https://www.ladyjusticebrewing.com.
For more information on Dream Culture and their programs, head to https://www.dreamcultureusa.org.